As a 26 year old artist who has been in the public eye from the age of 12 and with 5 albums under her belt now, it would be easy to presume that playing to a near sold out 800 capacity crowd at the working men’s club style Irish Centre on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre, would be a walk in the park for Billie Marten.
But despite now hitting the upper echelons of the UK folk scene, it’s important to acknowledge the previous struggles she has had to face, to understand some of her back story, to fully appreciate the triumphant and heart-warming experience that this show is.
For all her experience and growing popularity, fragility never feels far away from the surface in the lyrics, or in the moments between songs; where she is engaging, funny and sweet with an audience that she has enraptured from start to finish. None more so than when she talks about it being “good to be back on home turf”, (she’s from North Yorkshire, so this is her most local show) and later in the set goes on to say “Of all the gigs I’m doing, you would have thought that my family would be at this one, but they are seeing Gary Numan instead, an old guy….still going.” It’s delivered in a very humorous and charming way, but hints at her still questioning herself in terms of validity despite her success.
Marten hasn’t always had it easy. From bouts of anxiety and depression to issues with her previous record label, this has been a fight for her at times, but one she is clearly winning based on tonight and it’s those little moments of humanity in between songs that help radiate a real human connection that the crowd clearly taps into.
It’s not too grand to say that this gig comes in the middle of a world tour, one that has already seen her take in many dates in the UK, Europe and North America through the course of this year in support of latest album “Dog Eared”, which was released via Fiction Records in July.
Those previous live dates (with many more still to come in North America) have helped hone songs from that record, one that forms a large part of the set tonight, from an album that is expansive, layered and more band-led than her previous work, featuring a long list of musicians adding many key flourishes on the recordings, to a slimmer and more intimate live vehicle as a three piece, with Casper Miles and Tom Heap joining her onstage. It’s not an easy act to pull off, but it’s a highwire musical trick that she navigates with an understated confidence.
Setting the tone for the rest of the set, she opens with “ Feeling,” a gentle, rich track with a beautiful melody, while heavy on the critically acclaimed new album as you would expect. The set does take in songs from predecessor “Drop Cherries” and her second album “Feeding Seahorses By Hand”, of which both “I Can’t Get My Head Around you” and “Toulouse” are real highlights respectively tonight.
Going back to her original roots of playing songs on her own, we are treated to two songs in the middle of the set with just her and her guitar. Stirring, vulnerable and powerful in performance at the same time, it reminds the audience of the talent on display in its simplest form, especially on “Vanilla Baby”, which lays the emotional lyrics bare for the crowd in its sparseness.
Further into the set, impressive Canadian opening act Le Ren joins Marten on stage for two tracks, adding vocals on “Acid Tooth” and a countrified “You and I Both.” They work together onstage and there is clear mutual respect and strong friendship between them. This additional cameo helps back up the impressive support slot she had played prior to tonight’s headliner taking to the stage and with the relationship they have formed on this tour it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see them work together again in the future.
The 90-minute set is closed with two standout tracks from the recent album, firstly “Leap Year” and then the more exuberant and upbeat “Swing” is unleashed as an encore. It’s the fun ending such quality deserves, with the audience split in two and trained by Billie to sing along as backing choir.
Billie Marten’s return to Yorkshire has been a happy and joyful experience throughout for all concerned, whilst delicately delivered and emotionally moving, very much in keeping with the artist herself.
Photography by Millie Stephens.
